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Former U.S. Trade Representative Kirk Is New Clean and Safe Energy Coalition Co-Chair

February 6, 2014

Ambassador Ron Kirk, former U.S. Trade Representative and mayor of Dallas, has been named co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy (CASEnergy) Coalition. Kirk joins former EPA administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who has served as the coalition's co-chair since its 2006 launch.

In his role as the CASEnergy Coalition Co-Chair, Kirk will provide perspectives on how electricity choices impact local communities, and how investments in advanced energy technologies today will better prepare America to compete in the global marketplace.

Kirk is currently Senior of Counsel for Dallas-based Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher with a focus on strategic advice pertaining to global interests.

His leadership as U.S. Trade Representative under President Obama will help provide policy leaders and other audiences a broader understanding of the role nuclear energy plays in creating and sustaining American jobs. The global market for nuclear energy trade is estimated at $500 billion to $750 billion over the next decade.

'Investment in clean electricity sources like nuclear energy is vital to spurring innovation, curbing climate change and putting Americans to work in long-term, high-paying careers that can't be shipped overseas,' said Kirk. 'This is something I am passionate about, and I am excited to work alongside Gov. Whitman as co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition. Our goal is to help educate people around the country on the benefits of nuclear energy as part of our electricity portfolio.'

Kirk served as the mayor of Dallas from 1995 to 2001. He was the city's first African American mayor, and he led the city to garner more than $3.5 billion in new investment and created 45,000 new jobs.

At a time when the nuclear industry has a need for an additional 25,000 highly skilled workers by 2016, Kirk's hands-on experience investing in ways to create and fill jobs will serve as a cornerstone of his outreach, building on the Coalition's efforts to promote academic feeder programs and greater opportunities in the industry for African-American and Hispanic workers.

'I am very happy to work alongside Ambassador Kirk as co-chair of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition,' Whitman said. 'His experience will truly strengthen the work we do with the CASEnergy Coalition, and is indicative of the growing, broad-based support for nuclear energy. I am looking forward to working with him to continue the discussion about energy and nuclear power's role in providing low-carbon electricity.'

Sixty-nine percent of Americans now favor the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity, and 82 percent think nuclear energy will be 'very important' or 'somewhat important' in meeting Americans' electricity needs in the future, according to a September 2013 survey of U.S. public opinion by Bisconti Research Inc and Quest Global Research*.

Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, retired from his active role as Coalition Co-Chair in January 2013. He remains supportive of nuclear energy, and active in his role as founding co-chair.

The Clean and Safe Energy Coalition is a national grassroots coalition that promotes the economic and environmental benefits of nuclear energy as part of a clean energy portfolio. The coalition is comprised of more than 3,400 members across the business, environmental, academic, consumer, minority, and labor communities. To learn more about the coalition, please visit www.CleanSafeEnergy.org, follow us on Twitter @CASEnergy, and checkout our blog, Clean Energy Buzz.

Bisconti Research Inc and Quest Global Research telephone survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, September 5-15, 2013, margin of error +/-3 percentage points.